Presented by Fiona O’Loughlin
Reviewed: 3 March 2020
There’s no questioning that Fiona O’Loughlin is comedy royalty, if not the queen of Australian stand up comedy. An Evening with Fiona O’Loughlin is billed as Fiona’s last Fringe tour, and her loyal fans packed The May Wirth at Gluttony to see this legend weave her honest and truthful comedic magic.
For nearly 20 years, Fiona has performed her unique style of stand-up comedy around the world. She is a master of comedic story-telling, often weaving her own life (and family) into her shows. She is open and honest about her battle with alcohol as well as the health scare that left her in a coma. Fiona is most recently know for winning the hit TV show I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here in 2018.
Local Adelaide comedian, Mickey D, opened the performance with a short set before welcoming O’Loughlin to the stage. Mickey D’s opening set was tight, well executed and had the audience in fits of laughter. However, it was clear that he was no match for the one the audience was there to see. O’Loughlin was welcomed to the stage by thunderous applause, clearly touched by the love shown for her in the room. Within minutes, she had the audience in hysterics.
Following a short set on her own, the evening took a more casual approach. Mickey D re-joined O’Loughlin on stage and interviewed her. He walked her and us through key moments in her stand-up career, while O’Loughlin had one of her trade-mark stories to go with each event. She has a knack of taking the audience on a journey with her routines that lead them through the twists and turns of her everyday life (we learn in this performance that the stories about her life that seem far-fetched are actually true….mostly!), and then delivers the punch line that is far removed from what the audience was expecting (another sign of a great storyteller).
The evening ends with Fiona and Mickey D ticking off some of O’Loughlin’s
performing bucket list items. I suspect each performance will be slightly
different, but on opening night we experienced O’Loughlin attempting crowd
participation (something she is actually scared of and has never attempted) and
singing live on stage.
It’s not every day you get to see a legend of their field work their craft, and
I highly recommend you race out and get a ticket to see Fiona O’Loughlin in
this intimate show. However, let’s hope Fiona takes a leaf out of John
Farnham’s book and does several more festival tours before actually hanging up
her Fringe hat.
Reviewed by Ben Stefanoff
Rating out of 5: 5
Venue: The May Wirth at Gluttony – Rymill Park
Season: 10 – 15 March 2020
Duration: 60 min
Tickets: $28 – $35
Bookings: https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/an-evening-with-fiona-o-loughlin-af2020
More News
